Apparatus for supporting the preparation of travel routes

ABSTRACT

A machine for assisting crew itinerary production is proposed which alleviates the burden of operator&#39;s works and produces practical crew rosters in a short period of time. At first, old crew roster data are copied as they are as new crew roster data in the middle of production. Subsequently, among new train IDs corresponding to boarding section data constituting new itinerary data, the data which exist as new train IDs corresponding to new rolling stock operation data are adopted as they are, and the data which do not exist as new train IDs corresponding to new rolling stock operation data are eliminated, suspensions of the service being made to correspond to the data. The same processings are executed for all new itineraries. The train IDs which have not been allotted among new train IDs corresponding to new rolling stock operation data are classified into the unallotted group. Then, new train IDs within the allowable range of departure/arrival information of boarding sections of suspension of the service are selected from the train IDs classified into the unallotted group among new train IDs corresponding to new rolling stock operation data and adopted as the new train IDs corresponding to the boarding section data.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention is related to a machine for assisting crew itineraryproduction which assists newly producing itineraries that a crew followsfrom the departure at a train district to which the crew belongs to thearrival at the original train district, when a train diagram alteration(for example, in case of a diagram renovation or when a holiday diagramis produced based on a weekday diagram) is carried out.

BACKGROUND ART

For traffic and transport companies like railway, bus, airline andtransport companies, it is necessary for the companies to decide exactlyhow to use crews who are to be on duty on vehicles. In case of arailway, for example, a prescription prescribing, which driver shoulddrive which train, or a certain driver should next drive which trainafter he has driven some train and arrived at a terminal is called acrew roster. When producing such a crew roster, it should be consideredthat crews of a limited number fully but not excessively work, keepingto fixed working regulations, with the consideration of rolling stocks,railway districts and the like which the driver can drive, correspondingto a fixed train diagram.

The production work of crew rosters can be roughly divided intofollowing two works:

The first work is to produce a crew itinerary by combining several ofmultiple train diagrams. The “crew itinerary”, usually called simply“itinerary”, is a path which a crew follows from departure at his traindistrict to arrival at the same district (occasionally, after lodging).The first work will be described sequentially as follows: On the basisof a train diagram which determines that some train departs from somestation at a certain time and arrives at some station at a certain time,a rolling stock operation diagram is produced which determines whichrolling stocks should be allotted to the train diagram. The rollingstock operation diagram is fragmented at, for example, change stationswhere the crew changes the train, to produce many itinerary units (alsocalled roster lines). These itinerary units are combined to make anitinerary. A diagrammatized itinerary is a crew roster diagram.

The second work is to produce a group duty schedule at a designatedtrain district, based on the multiple itineraries thus produced. Thisprocedure is called the group duty schedule production work or groupschedule production work. The group schedule is a schedule which isproduced by combining all duty schedules for crews of one group in oneworking unit, while several crew members are united to one group.Therefore, a crew belonging to the same group works according to theschedule, shifting it by one day work. A group schedule is produced byproperly combining multiple itineraries. When producing it, it isconsidered that conditions such as labor hours, number of overnightshift, meal time and the like become equal for each crew and the workingregulations are not violated. When a case occurs where such conditionsdo not become equal or the working regulations are violated, the firstwork is carried out again and the second work is redone afteritineraries are replaced.

Since such crew roster production works were all done manually, muchtime and labor were needed. Therefore, machines for assisting theproduction works have been developed. Among them, as a machine forassisting the first work, for example, Japan Patent Laid-open Hei5-298593 is known. According to the publication, diagram fragmentsproduced from data of a rolling stock operation diagram are combined toform a group that is a higher element, considering, for example,stations where crews can be changed or the like as the restrictiveconditions. The groups are combined to produce crew itineraries. Sincecrew rosters are produced by combining groups that are higher elements,the total number of combination in the production of crew itineraries isdecreased compared with a case where each diagram fragment is combinedand therefore, the load on the operator is decreased.

However, according to a machine shown in Japan Patent Laid-open Hei5-298593, since the crew itinerary production was carried out from quitea blank sheet, the total number of combination for producing the crewitineraries still became so huge that the machine could not be used inpractice, even if several diagram fragments produced from data of arolling stock operation diagram were combined to form a group and suchgroups were combined to produce crew itineraries.

The invention is presented in respect of the aforementioned problem andthe purpose of the invention is to provide a machine for assisting crewitinerary production which makes it possible to efficiently producepractical crew itineraries within a short period of time, with adecrease of the operator's burden.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

According to the first aspect of the invention, a machine is providedfor assisting crew itinerary production which assists newly producingitinerary data for an itinerary which a crew follows from departure at atrain district to which the crew belongs to arrival at the originaltrain district, by combining at plurality of boarding section data whichindicate that when the crew boards on the train of what train line atwhat stations and when he gets off the train at what station afterward,

wherein there are provided an old itinerary data storing means forstoring old itinerary data,

a new train-line storing means for storing a plurality of newtrain-lines,

a new itinerary data storing means in the middle of production forstoring new itinerary data in the middle of production, and

a train-line allotting means which selects a new train-line whichcoincides with or lies within the allowable range of an old train-linecorresponding to each boarding section data of the old itinerary dataamong the multiple new train lines, allots the selected new train-linein place of the old train-line corresponding to the boarding sectiondata, and makes the new itinerary data storing means store the selectednew train-line in the middle of production as new itinerary data in themiddle of production.

In the explanation, “old” before a phrase or a word means that thephrase or the word is in the stage before the train diagram is altered,and “new” before a phrase or a word means that the phrase or the word isin the stage after the train diagram is altered. A “train-line” is traininformation about a train which is unconditionally determined by thedeparture station, the departure time, the arrival station and thearrival time. A “train district” is a traffic service district whichadministrates train operations. An “itinerary data” is made by combiningmultiple boarding section data. Usually, as shown in FIG. 11, anitinerary unit is produced by combining one or multiple boarding sectiondata, and an itinerary or an itinerary data is completed by combiningone or multiple itinerary units. The itinerary units and the itineraryare produced by considering labor hours, meal time, working regulationsand so on. FIG. 12 is a graph showing a boarding schedule of a crew fora working day, which is an itinerary shown like a rod along time akis(abscissa).

As shown in the description about the background of the art, in thesecond work of crew roster production, group schedules are produced byproperly combining multiple itineraries. Therefore, it is most importantin performing the crew roster production work how to make itineraries orhow efficiently the first work is performed.

A train-line allotting means of the invention selects a new train-linewhich coincides with or lies within the allowable range of an oldtrain-line corresponding to each boarding section data of old itinerarydata among multiple new train-lines, allots the selected new train-linein place of the old train-line corresponding to the boarding sectiondata, and stores the selected new train-line in the new itinerary datastoring means in the middle of production as new itinerary data in themiddle of production. Among the new train-lines, there are train-lineswhich are quite the same to old train-lines (no alteration), or slightlydeviate in departure/arrival times even if there are alterations in thetrain-lines. Therefore, in the invention, when new itineraries areproduced, the crew itinerary production work is assisted by using theparts of data where old itineraries can be used without change, as theyare.

Consequently, the operator of crew roster production work can produceitineraries far more efficiently compared with the case whereitineraries are produced from new itinerary data on a so-called blanksheet, since he or she has only to perform the work by using newitinerary data in the middle of production obtained by a machine forassisting crew roster production work, or new itinerary data which arenearly completed. Heretofore, methods for producing new itinerariesusing linear analyses or AI functions are known. According to themethods, computers produce new itinerary data independently of olditinerary data. Therefore, even when the train diagram renovation itselfis a partial one, the new itineraries are largely changed from the olditineraries. As a result, there occurs a big difference in crew rostersbetween before and after the train diagram alteration, causing such aproblem that it takes a long time before the crews are used to the newboarding schedules. Such methods were not practical. The machine of theinvention exhibit a great power especially in such a partial diagramrenovation. Since the difference occurring in the crew rosters betweenbefore and after the train diagram alteration can be made very small, itsuits practical use.

A machine of the second aspect of the invention is a machine of thefirst aspect of the invention, wherein there is further provided a newrolling stock operation data storing means which stores new rollingstock operation data that determine how to operate certain rollingstocks corresponding to the new train-line, the train-line allottingmeans selects a new train-line which coincides with or lies within theallowable range of an old train-line corresponding to each boardingsection data of the old itinerary data among the new train-linescorresponding to the new rolling stock operation data, allots theselected new train-line in place of the old train-line corresponding tothe boarding section data, and makes the new itinerary data storingmeans store the selected new train-line in the middle of production asnew itinerary data in the middle of production.

In this case, the train allotting means selects a new train-line whichcoincides with or lies within the allowable range of an old train-linecorresponding to each boarding section data of the old itinerary dataamong the new train-lines corresponding to the new rolling stockoperation data. Generally, when itineraries are made, as shown in theparagraph of the background art, many itinerary units are produced byfragmenting rolling stock operation diagrams or rolling stock operationdata, for example, at stations where crews change trains, anditineraries are produced by combining the itinerary units. Therefore, inthe invention, it is considered that new itinerary data may bepreferably produced by comparing with new rolling stock operation data.

In the third aspect of the invention, the train allotting means in thesecond aspect of the invention is constituted in such a way that itselects a new train-line which coincides with or lies within theallowable range of an old train-line corresponding to each boardingsection data of the old itinerary data among the new train-linescorresponding to the new rolling stock operation data, by performing apattern-matching of train-lines in the new rolling stock operationdiagram on which all of the new rolling stock operation data are shownas a diagram with train-lines in the old crew roster diagram on whichall of the old itinerary data are shown as a diagram. In the case, forexample, both diagrams of train-line may be compared by reading the oldcrew roster diagram and the new rolling stock operation diagram asgraphic data with an optical reader like OCR.

In the fourth aspect of the invention, a machine for assisting crewitinerary production of the second or third aspect of the invention isprovided with a classifying means which classifies new train-lines whichhave not been allotted by the train-line allotting means among newtrain-lines corresponding to the new rolling stock operation data intothe unallotted group. Among new train-lines corresponding to new rollingstock operation data, for data which have not been allotted to boardingsection data constituting new itinerary data in the middle ofproduction, such works as to produce new itineraries and to join to olditineraries separately become necessary. In the case, since these datahave been classified into an unallotted group, the works can be easilyperformed. In these works, for example, new train-lines in theunallotted group are fragmented at every changing station to produceitinerary units. After deciding the belonging district (a train districtto which an itinerary belongs) for the itinerary units, each of theitinerary units is joined to produce itineraries by means of a known AIfunctions or the like.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, in a machine forassisting crew itinerary production of any one of the first to thefourth aspects of the invention, the allowable range is a range where adeparture station and an arrival station in a new itinerary coincidewith or overlap the boarding section of a corresponding old itinerary,and the departure time at the departure station or the arrival time atthe arrival station are within a predetermined allowable range of time.Since a train-line is determined by a departure station, a departuretime, an arrival station and an arrival time, concerning an allowablerange within which two train-lines are regarded to coincide, it ispreferable that the conditions about the departure station and time andthe arrival station and time are fulfilled. Concerning time, it ispreferred that departure time is thought to be more important thanarrival time. For example, when a departure station and an arrivalstation in a boarding section of a corresponding old itinerary arestation B and station C, respectively, which are positioned betweenstation A and station D, station A and station D overlap thesedeparture/arrival stations. In such a case where overlapping occurs, thesection between the departure station B and arrival station C can beallotted. Therefore, as mentioned above, when a departure station and anarrival station in a new itinerary overlap those in a old itinerary, itis determined that the conditions for an allowable range are fulfilled.The allowable time may be determined so that it can not be changedafterward, though it is preferred that the operator can occasionallydetermine it. The allowable time difference is not specially limited. Itmay be preferably determined, for example, in the range from 0.1 to 5hours.

According to the sixth aspect of the invention, in a machine forassisting crew itinerary production of any one of the first to the fifthaspects of the invention, a train ID given to each train-line is used inplace of the train-line. In the case, it is convenient when both old andnew data are used as they are, without new rolling stock operation dataand old itinerary data being read with OCR or the like as a form ofdiagram.

According to the seventh aspect of the invention, in a machine forassisting crew itinerary production of any one of the

first to the sixth aspects of the invention, the train-line allottingmeans selects a new train-line closest to the old train-line, whenmultiple new train-lines exist which lie within the allowable range ofthe old train-line corresponding to each boarding section data of theold itinerary data. Here, “closest” means that, for example, thedifference between both departure times or between both arrival times isthe smallest. Nevertheless, if the allottable ratio of total newtrain-lines is higher when the second best train-line is selected thanwhen the closest train-line is selected, the second closest, not theclosest, train-line can be selected.

According to the eighth aspect of the invention, in a machine forassisting crew itinerary production of any one of the first to theseventh aspects of the invention, the train-line allotting means allotsa new train-line after confirming that the departure time of the lattertrain at the departure station does not become earlier than the arrivaltime of the former train at the arrival station, for twotime-sequentially arranged boarding section data. In the case, it ispreferable that such contradiction does not occur that, for example, ata changing station, the time when a train arrives at the station becomesearlier than the time when the train departs at the station.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic constitution of a machinefor assisting crew roster production of the invention.

FIG. 2 are explanation charts for old train data. FIG. 2(a) is a tableof old train data and FIG. 2(b) is an old train diagram.

FIG. 3 are explanation charts for old rolling stock operation data andold crew roster data. FIG. 3(a) is a table of old rolling stockoperation data, FIG. 3(b) is a table of old crew roster data and FIG.3(c) is an old rolling stock operation diagram and an old crew rosterdiagram.

FIG. 4 is a table of group schedule data.

FIG. 5 are explanation charts for new train data. FIG. 5(a) is a tableof new train data and FIG. 5(b) is a new train diagram.

FIG. 6 are explanation charts for new rolling stock operation data. FIG.6(a) is a table of new rolling stock operation data and FIG. 6(b) is anew rolling stock operation diagram.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing processings of a program for assistingitinerary production (former half).

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing processings of a program for assistingitinerary production (latter half).

FIG. 9 is an explanation chart showing new crew roster data in themiddle of production and new rolling stock operation data classifiedinto the allotted and unallotted groups.

FIG. 10 is an explanation chart showing a new crew roster diagram and anew rolling stock operation data, in the middle of production.

FIG. 11 is an explanation chart showing relations between boardingsection data, itinerary units and an itinerary.

FIG. 12 is a boarding schedule of a crew for one working day.

THE MOST PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FOR EMBODYING THE INVENTION

A preferred embodiment of the invention will be described referring todrawing figures as follows:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic constitution of a machinefor crew roster production. A machine for crew roster production 20 ofthe embodiment is a machine which is containing a concept of a machinefor assisting crew itinerary production of the invention, and isprovided with a CPU 30 a, ROM 30 b, RAM 30 c, an input/output circuit 30d, a counter 30 e, a known computer 30 which contains a bus 30 f and thelike connecting those units, and a mouse 32, a key board 34, a floppydisk drive (FDD) 36, external memory 38, CRT 40 and a printer 42connected to the computer 30 via the input/output circuit 30 d. Themouse 32 and the key board 34 are examples of input means, the FDD 36and the external memory 38 are examples of storing means and CRT 40 isan example of displaying means.

The CPU 30 a in the computer 30 executes various processings bytemporarily storing data in the RAM 30 b according to various controlprograms stored in the ROM 30 b. The external memory 38 stores traindata, rolling stock operation data, crew roster data, crew groupschedule data and so on. In the embodiment, to every data before thetrain diagram renovation, “old” is added in front of the name of data,and to every data after train diagram renovation, “new” is added infront of the name of data.

Train data are the stored data where each train ID is made to correspondto its departure station and time and its arrival station and time. FIG.2(a) is old train data shown as a table and FIG. 2(b) is the old traindata shown as a diagram, or a train diagram. Here, a train ID is an IDgiven to each train-line (oblique lines in FIG. 2(b)). When thedeparture station and its departure time, and the arrival station andits arrival time are not altered, the same train ID is usually usedafter the train diagram renovation.

Rolling stock operation data are produced based on train IDs of traindata and stipulate how certain rolling stocks should be operated. Theyshows an operation schedule for returning, sending back, cleaning,inspection and so on of the rolling stocks, like following example: Forexample, certain rolling stocks are made to correspond to a certaintrain ID, driven from station A to station B, then made to correspond toanother train ID, driven from station B to station C, cleaned, made tocorrespond to another train ID and driven from station C to station D.FIG. 3(a) is a part of old rolling stock operation data shown as atable, and a solid line in FIG. 3(b) is the old rolling stock operationdata shown as a diagram, or a rolling stock operation diagram. FIGS. 3are produced based on FIGS. 2.

Crew roster data are produced based on train IDs of train data, and areitinerary data constituted by combining multiple boarding section datawhich show when crews board on which trains at what stations and whenthey get off the trains at what stations afterward. The itineraries areproduced considering labor hours, meal time, working regulations and thelike. FIG. 3(b) is a part of old crew roster data shown as a table. Adotted line in FIG. 3(c) is an old crew roster data shown as a diagram,or an old crew roster diagram. The relation between boarding sectiondata, itinerary units and itineraries in FIGS. 3 is that each ofboarding section data for two boarding sections (from station A tostation C and from station C to station A) constitutes its itineraryunit and an itinerary (old itinerary No. 1) is constituted by combiningthese two itinerary units.

Crew group schedule data are produced based on N itineraries (N is aninteger), and are produced by combining all boarding schedules (refer toFIG. 12) for crews of one group in one working unit, while several crewmembers are united to one group (refer to FIG. 4). A crew belonging tothe same group works according to each boarding schedule in the groupschedule, shifting the work number numbered on the left side of thetable of FIG. 4 one by one. The group schedule data are produced in sucha way that conditions such as labor hours, number of overnight shift,meal time and the like become equal for each group and the workingregulations are not violated. FIG. 4 was, made independently of FIGS. 2and 3.

Each data can be displayed on the CRT 40 in the form of a graph or adiagram, printed on the printer 42 or made to be stored in the floppydisk via FDD 36 by the operator using the mouse 32 or the key board 34.

Subsequently, a procedure with which crew roster data are newly producedwhen a train diagram renovation is performed will be explained asfollows: Old train data, old rolling stock operation data, old crewroster data, old crew group schedule data, new train data and newrolling stock operation data are stored in the external memory 38. Newcrew roster data and new crew schedule data are not stored in thisstage, because these data are not produced yet.

For new train data, as well as for old train data, departure stationsand times, arrival stations and times and train numbers are storedcorresponding to train IDs. Some train IDs in new train data coincidewith old train IDs in old train data but some do not. The case whereboth data do not coincide occurs in such an occasion where service ofsome train is suspended after the train diagram innovation (in the case,the old train ID is eliminated) or some train is additionally servedafter the train diagram renovation (in the case, the new train ID isadded). FIG. 5(a) is new train data shown as a table and FIG. 5(b) is anew train diagram. As known from the comparison of FIG. 2 and FIG. 5, anold train ID “012” has been eliminated and a new train IDs “103” and“112” are added. Though not shown, there are cases where departure timesor arrival times largely deviate in spite that train IDs coincidebetween new train data and old train data.

New rolling stock operation data, as well as old ones, are producedbased on train IDs of new train data. FIG. 6(a) is a part of new traindata shown as a table and FIG. 6(b) is a new rolling stock operationdiagram. FIG. 6 are produced based on FIG. 5.

New crew roster data and new crew group schedule data are generallyproduced as follows: At first, by performing a pattern matching betweenold crew roster data and new rolling stock operation data, portions ofdata which can be used as new crew roster data, as they are, aresearched among old crew roster data. The portions of data are used asthey are as new crew roster data. Then, portions of data which have notbeen used as new crew roster data among new rolling stock operation dataare divided, for example, at each changing station. For each divideddata, its belonging district is determined by the operator and dependingon each belonging district, each data is combined by the computer toproduce itinerary units. Itineraries are completed from thus produceditinerary units, by carrying out the itinerary production work with theaid of Al functions of the computer. New crew roster data are thusproduced. Subsequently, new crew schedule data are produced by thecomputer, considering labor hours, working regulations and so on.

New crew roster data and new crew schedule data are generally producedas follows: At first, by performing a pattern matching between old crewroster data and new rolling stock operation data, portions of data whichcan be used as new crew roster data, as they are, are searched among oldcrew roster data. The portions of data are used as they are, as new crewroster data. As a result, some of itinerary units (obliquely drawn linesor line segments in rolling stock operation diagrams) having been usedfor old crew roster data among itinerary units in new rolling stock dataare allotted to the same positions in new crew roster data, as they are,and several itineraries or itinerary units are produced. Then, portionsof data which have not been allotted to new crew roster data amongitinerary units of new rolling stock operation data are divided, forexample, at each changing station. For each divided data, its belongingdistrict is determined by the operator and depending on each belongingdistrict, each data is combined by the computer to produce itineraryunits. Itineraries are completed from thus produced itinerary units, bycarrying out the itinerary production work with the aid of AI functionsof the computer. New crew roster data are thus produced. Subsequently,new crew schedule data are produced by the computer based on thuscompleted itineraries, considering labor hours, working regulations andso on.

In the following, the production of new crew roster data will bedescribed in detail, using FIGS. 7 and 8, which are flow charts of theprocessings for assisting production of itineraries, or the processingsfor pattern matching. When the operator commands the crew rosterproduction from the mouse 32 or the key board 34 and then the itineraryproduction, at Step (called S, hereafter) 100, the CPU 30 a in thecomputer 30 reads old crew roster data, which are a set of N olditinerary data, from the external memory 38 and copies the data, whichare defined as the new crew roster data in the middle of production.Specifically, at this point, the new crew roster data in the middle ofproduction are the data copied from old itinerary data, as they are, asnew itinerary data. Also, the old train ID is copied as it is, as a newtrain ID corresponding to a boarding section in each new itinerary data.

At subsequent S110, 1 is set as a count value k on the counter 30 e. AtS120, for the aforementioned crew roster data in the middle ofproduction, the new train ID is read which corresponds to the boardingsection data constituting the kth new itinerary data. At subsequentS130, though an old train ID is tentatively allotted to the read newtrain ID, it is judged whether the new train ID exists as the train IDsof new train data (here, new train IDs corresponding to new rollingstock operation data) stored in the external memory 38, or not.

When the determination at S130 is affirmative, it is determined at S140whether the departure stations and times, and arrival stations and times(called “departure/arrival information”, hereinafter) coincide for bothtrain IDs, or not. Usually, when both train IDs coincide, thedeparture/arrival information also coincides, but in some cases, they donot coincide due to certain reasons. Therefore, confirmation about thecoincidence of the information is made at S140. When the determinationat S140 is negative, the processing is passed to S160 mentionedhereinafter. On the other hand, when the determination at S140 ispositive, at S150, the old train ID which has been allotted tentativelyas the new train ID corresponding to the boarding section data isformally adopted as it is, while the new train ID corresponding to theboarding section data is classified into the allotted group in a formcorresponding to the new rolling stock operation data.

Specifically, at S100, an old train ID is tentatively allotted as thenew train ID corresponding to the boarding section data of the newitinerary data in the middle of production. When there is a train IDwhich coincides with the old train ID among new train IDs correspondingto new rolling stock operation data (YES at S130), the coinciding newtrain ID (=the old train ID) is formally adopted as the new itinerarydata in the middle of production after it is confirmed that thedeparture/arrival information coincides (YES at S140), while it isclassified into the allotted group (S150).

On the other hand, if the determination at S130 is negative, since theread new train ID, or the old train ID which has been tentativelyallotted, has been eliminated or altered by the diagram renovation, atS160, the new train ID corresponding to the boarding section data iseliminated, while a suspension of the service is made to correspond tothe boarding section data. Here, a suspension of the service means-thatno train ID is allotted to the boarding section.

Subsequently, at S170, it is determined whether the processings fromS120 to S160 have been executed for all boarding section dataconstituting the kth new itinerary data, or not. When there remain anyunprocessed boarding section data, the processings from S120 are carriedout again for the boarding section data. After the processings arefinished for all data, next S180 processing is executed.

At S180, it is determined whether the count number k on the counter 30 ecoincides with the total number N of the new itinerary data. When thedetermination at S180 is negative, which means that there remain newitinerary data for which the processings from 120 have not beenexecuted, the count number k is increased to k+1 at S185 and theprocessings from S120 are repeated. When the determination at S180 isaffirmative, since the processings from S120 have been executed for allnew itinerary data, at S190, the train ID which has not been allotted asthe new train ID corresponding to the boarding section data of the newcrew roster data in the middle of production among the new train IDscorresponding to the new rolling stock operation data is classified intothe unallotted group.

An embodiment of the processings from aforementioned S100 to S190 willbe explained as follows, using an example how the old rolling stockoperation data and the old crew roster data in FIG. 3 are altered whenthe old train data in FIG. 2 are altered to the new train data in FIGS.5. First, as shown in FIG. 9(a), the old crew roster data are copied, asthey are, as the new crew roster data in the middle of production. Then,among the new train IDs corresponding to each boarding section dataconstituting the first new itinerary data, “001” exists as the new trainID corresponding to the new rolling stock operation data and thedeparture/arrival information coincides. Therefore, this is adopted asthe new train ID corresponding to the boarding section data, as it is,while the new train ID is classified into the allotted group in a formcorresponding to the new rolling stock operation data. Contrary to thecase, another new train ID, “012”, does not exist as the new train IDcorresponding to the new rolling stock operation data. Therefore, the IDis eliminated and a suspension of the service is made to correspond tothe boarding section data. After the same processings are executed forall new itinerary data from the second to the last, the data which havenot been allotted as the new train IDs of the new crew roster data inthe middle of production among the new train IDs corresponding to thenew rolling stock operation data are classified into the unallottedgroup. As a result, as shown in FIG. 9(b), the new crew roster data inthe middle of production and the new rolling stock operation data whichare classified into the allotted group and the unallotted group areobtained. Since the new train IDs “112” and “103” in the new rollingstock operation data of FIG. 9(b) did not exist in the old train IDs,these are both classified into the unallotted group in this stage. FIG.10(a) shows these data as a diagram.

In the following, the processings from S200 will be explained accordingto the flow chart in FIG. 8. At S200, following to S190, by the CPU 30a, the count number k of the counter 30 e is set to 1 and at thefollowing S210, it is determined whether there are boarding sections ofsuspension of the service (suspending-service boarding sections) for thekth new itinerary data of the new crew roster data in the middle ofproduction which have been processed to S190.

When the determination at S210 is negative, the processing is passed toS270. Contrary, when the determination at S210 is affirmative, theprocessing is passed to S220. At S220, the departure/arrival informationcorresponding to the suspending-service boarding section data is read.At S230, it is determined whether there are data which lie within theallowable range of the departure/arrival information read at S220 in thegroup classified into the “unallotted” among the new train IDs of thenew rolling stock operation data, or not. Here, the “allowable range”means that when compared with, for example, the departure/arrivalinformation corresponding to the suspending-service boarding sectiondata, the departure/arrival stations are the same and the departure timeat the departure station is within the allowable range of time which isdecided as a range of a predetermined allowable period of time. Theallowable period of time can be determined freely to an optional valueor within a predetermined range (for example, 0.1-5 hours). Other than acase where departure/arrival stations are the same, departure/arrivalstations may be included. It is the case where, for example, when thedeparture/arrival stations of a suspending-service boarding section arestation Q and station R, respectively, the departure/arrival stations ofan unallotted new train ID are station P and station S, respectively andstation Q and station R are situated between station P and station R. Inthe case, the driving section of the new rolling stock operation data isdivided into sections, P-Q, Q-R and R-S from the section P-S, and eachdivided section becomes each itinerary unit.

When the determination at S230 is affirmative, it is determined whetherother conditions are satisfied at S240. Other conditions are, forexample, that time reversals and day discrepancies do not occur, and soon. Here, “time reversal” means that when an arrival time at a stationwhere a crew changes a train, or a finishing time of a boarding, and adeparture time at the station, or a starting time of a boarding, arecompared, the starting time of the boarding becomes earlier than thefinishing time of the boarding. A “day discrepancy” means that thedeparture time becomes yesterday or tomorrow. When the determination atS240 is affirmative, at S250, the unallotted train ID is adopted as thenew train ID corresponding to the boarding section data and classifiedinto the allotted group. The processing is passed to S260. When thereare multiple data which are determined to be affirmative at S230 andS240 among the new train IDs corresponding to the new rolling stockoperation data, the closest data to the departure/arrival informationmay be selected. But, if the allotting ratio becomes higher as the totalwhen the second closest train-line is selected than when the closesttrain-line is selected, the second closest train-line may be selected.On the other hand, when the determination at S230 or S240 is negative,the boarding section data is kept as a suspension of the service, as itis, and the process is passed to S260 at once.

At S260, it is determined whether all the data for the boarding sectionswhose services are suspended among the kth new itinerary data have beenprocessed, or not. When there are any unprocessed data, the process isreturned to S220, the departure/arrival information for the otherboarding sections whose services are suspended are read and theprocessings from S230 are executed. Contrary, when there is no remainingdata at S260, the process is passed to S270 and it is determined whetherthe count number k coincides with the total number N of the newitinerary data, or not. Unless the count number k coincides with N, theprocessing is passed to S280, the count number k is increased by 1 andthe processings from S210 are executed. Contrary, when the count numberk coincides with N, the processings for assisting itinerary productionare finished, since all the processings from S210 have been executed forall the new itinerary data.

An embodiment of aforementioned processings of S200-S280 will bedescribed referring to FIGS. 9 and 10, following to the aforementionedembodiment. First, as for the new crew roster data in the middle ofproduction shown in FIG. 9(b), among the first itinerary data, theboarding section data, station A (12:00)-station C (12:50), is not asuspension of the service, since a new train ID “001” corresponds, butthe boarding section, station C (13:30)-station A (14:20), is asuspension of the service. Therefore, the departure/arrival informationabout the latter boarding section data, that is, the information thatthe boarding is started at station C at 13:30 and finished at station Aat 14:20, is read. Among the data which are classified into theunallotted group in the new train IDs corresponding to the new rollingstock operation data, data which lie in the allowable range of thedeparture/arrival information (here, the departure/arrival stations arethe same and the departure time is in the range of ±0.5 hour) aresearched. The new train ID, “112”, corresponding to the new rollingstock No. 2 conforms to this. Since the new train ID, “112”, satisfiesother conditions (here, the time reversal or the day discrepancy doesnot occur), the new train ID, “112”, is adopted as a new train IDcorresponding to the data for the boarding section whose service issuspended among the first new itinerary data, while the new train ID isclassified into the allotted group. As a result, as shown in FIG. 9(c),the new crew roster data in the middle of production and the new rollingstock operation data which are classified into the allotted andunallotted groups are obtained.

In the new crew roster data in the middle of production in FIG. 9(c),the boarding starting time and the boarding finishing time in theboarding section data of from station C to station A have been replacedby 13:40 and 14:30, respectively, corresponding to the new train ID,“112”. In the new rolling stock operation data in FIG. 9(c), the newtrain ID, “103”, is out of the allowable range of the departure/arrivalinformation of the boarding section data of the suspension of theservice, or does not satisfy other conditions though it is in theallowable range, and is classified into the unallotted group in thisstage. FIG. 10(b) shows these data as a diagram.

In the example, after the “suspension of the service” is once made tocorrespond to the boarding section data of from station C to station A,a new train ID is allotted here and the new itinerary data arecompleted. But, when there are no data within the allowable range of thedeparture/arrival information for the “suspension of the service” amongthe new train IDs corresponding to the new rolling stock operation data,the “suspension of the service” is kept, even after the processings forassisting the itinerary production have been executed. The new itinerarydata which include such a “suspension of the service” are dealt with asitinerary units or the boarding section data might be eliminated by theoperator.

After the processings for assisting itinerary production are over, thereare some data which have been classified into the unallotted group amongnew train IDs corresponding to new rolling stock operation data. Forinstance, like the new train ID, “103”, corresponding to the new rollingstock No. 3 in the new rolling stock operation data in FIG. 9(c), a newtrain ID which is newly supplemented due to the train diagramalteration, and the like belong to such the unallotted group. For thenew train ID classified into such the unallotted group, at first, thedriving section is divided into one or multiple boarding sections usingthe mouse 32 or the key board 34 by the operator, and each belongingdistrict is determined. A belonging district means a district whichadministrates the boarding work related to the drive of certain trains.Imagine that the driving section of, for example, the train ID, “123”,is from station A to station C via station B. When the boarding sectionfrom station A to station B in the driving section is made to beadministrated by district T, the belonging district of the boardingsection from station A to station B of the train ID, “123”, isdetermined to be district T.

Subsequently, the CPU 30 a of the computer 30 produces itinerary unitsby combining boarding section data for each belonging district,considering the predetermined conditions such that it is efficient when,for example, a crew who has finished a boarding on a certain train atstation E starts the next boarding duty at station E, or an appropriatetrain for the transfer (available train) is necessary when he starts thenext boarding duty at another station.

Thereafter, the operator inputs various fixing conditions such as totalnumber of itineraries, number of lodging itineraries (itinerariesincluding lodgings), time zone of work start in the itinerary after alodging, meal time and so on, and subsequently commands the automaticitinerary production. Then, the CPU 30 a connects itinerary units toform itineraries by deduction and induction, judging the judgingconditions based on the AI functions, and finally produces itinerarieswhich satisfy all the judging conditions. A new crew roster data areobtained as a result. As a judging condition, there is, for example, thecondition related to labor hours of continuous work in one working day.Other than this, the restriction of one continuous boarding hours, therestriction of one continuous boarding kilometers and the restriction ofpreceding hours which are thought to be necessary before starting thenext boarding duty at the arrival station may be taken up as the judgingconditions.

Hereinafter, a procedure for producing new crew roster data for each dayof the week will be described. At first, new crew roster data forweekdays (from Monday to Thursday) are produced according to theaforementioned procedure Specifically, new rolling stock operation datafor weekdays and old crew roster data for weekdays are used to executethe processings for assisting itinerary production by the computer.Then, itinerary units are produced by the operator for the unallottedgroup of new rolling stock operation data for weekdays. Thereafter, theautomatic itinerary production by the computer is carried out. In theautomatic itinerary production, new crew roster data are completed afterlodging itineraries are produced by connecting midnight itinerary unitsand dawn itinerary units of new crew roster data in the middle ofproduction for a weekday.

Subsequently, new crew roster data for Saturday are produced. At first,the processings for assisting itinerary production are executed by thecomputer using new rolling stock operation data for Saturday andpreviously produced new crew roster data for weekdays. Then, itineraryunits are produced by the operator for the unallotted group of newrolling stock operation data for Saturday. Thereafter, the automaticitinerary production by the computer is carried out. Though old crewroster data for Saturday may be used in place of new crew roster datafor weekdays, the latter are more preferably used, since data of theunallotted group becomes less in the case. In the automatic itineraryproduction, lodging itineraries are produced by connecting midnightitinerary units and dawn itinerary units of new crew roster data forSaturday in the middle of production, and new crew roster data arecompleted.

Subsequently, new crew roster data for Friday and Sunday are produced.In the case, by using already produced new crew roster data for weekdaysand Saturday, new crew roster data for Friday and Sunday are obtained atonce, without executing the processings for assisting itineraryproduction or the like. Specifically, new crew roster data for Fridayare obtained by reconnecting midnight itinerary units of new crew rosterdata for weekdays with dawn itinerary units of new crew roster data forSaturday, and new crew roster data for Sunday are obtained byreconnecting midnight itinerary units of new crew roster data forSaturday with dawn itinerary units of new crew roster data for weekdays.

When the itineraries have been completed in such a way, the operatorinputs, by using the mouse 32 or the key board 34, various fixingconditions such as the registration condition of itinerary sets obtainedby combining itineraries (for example, only itineraries of a designatedtype of rolling stock can be combined, and so on), the equalizingcondition (to equalize labor and restraint hours, meal time and thelike) and used working restrictions, and subsequently commands theautomatic group schedule production. Then, the CPU 30 a computes thelabor and restraint hours for all itineraries in the relevant districtsand determines itineraries which can be combined according to theregistration condition. One of the itineraries in the relevant districtsis selected, the itinerary set containing the least itineraries amongthe registered itineraries is selected and the itinerary is registeredto the itinerary set. Such a sequence of works for registering theitinerary to the itinerary set is repeated until no itineraries in therelevant districts remain. Thereafter, the data are collated with theequalizing condition and the working regulations. When a violation ofthe equalizing condition or of the working regulations is detected, thecombination in the itinerary set is changed by carrying outaforementioned registration works. The changing works are repeated untilall the violations are dissolved. There can happen such a case wheresome violations remain undissolved. In the case, the operator carriesout the violation dissolving works with manual operation using the mouse32 or the key board 34. The automatic group schedule production isdescribed, for example, in the paragraph No. 0047 to 0069 of JapanPatent Leid-open Hei 7-262423 in detail.

As fully mentioned above, according to a machine 20 for crew rosterproduction of the embodiment, the operator for the crew rosterproduction works uses new crew roster data in the middle of production,or half-completed new crew roster data, to complete the crew rosterdata. Therefore, itineraries can be far more efficiently producedcompared with a case where new crew roster data are produced on a “blanksheet of paper”. Heretofore, methods for producing new crew roster dataare known in which the linear analyses or the AI functions were used.But in the methods, since the computer produces new crew roster dataindependently of old itinerary data, the new crew roster data arealtered quite from the old crew roster data, even when the diagramrenovation itself is a partial one. As a result, there occur bigdifferences between the crew rosters before and after the diagramalteration, and such problem happens that it takes long time beforecrews become used to the crew duty schedules. The methods could not bepractical. The machine of the invention is especially powerful for sucha partial renovation. Since the differences of, crew rosters before andafter the train diagram alteration can be suppressed to a minimum, themachine is suitable for practical use.

Such works as separately to produce new itinerary units or itineraries,or to connect with old itinerary units or itineraries are necessary forthe data which have not been allotted to boarding section dataconstituting new crew roster data in the middle of production among newtrain IDs corresponding to new rolling stock operation data. In theembodiment, since the new train IDs have been classified into theunallotted group, the works can be easily performed.

In the crew roster production machine 20 of the above-mentionedembodiment, the external memory 38 corresponds to the old itinerary datastoring means, the new train-line storing means, the new rolling stockoperation data storing means and the new itinerary data storing means inthe middle of production, of the invention, and the CPU 30 a of thecomputer 30 corresponds to the train-line allotting means and theclassifying means of the invention. The processings from S100 to S280 inFIGS. 7 and 8 correspond to the processings of the train-line allottingmeans and the classifying means of the invention.

The invention is not limited to the aforementioned embodiment butvarious modifications can be embodied within the scope of the invention.

For instance, in the above-mentioned embodiment, crew rosters for therailway were shown as an example. Crew rosters for other means oftransportation, such as buses, airlines, tracks and taxis, can beproduced in the same way.

Moreover, when Saturday and holiday diagrams are produced from weekdaydiagrams, they can be produced in the same way as in the aforementionedembodiment, though an example of train diagram renovation was shown inthe embodiment. Since the Saturday and holiday diagrams are nearly thesame to the weekday diagrams, except that the services of the train inthe commuter time zone is less in the Saturday and holiday diagrams thanin the weekday diagrams, the machine for assisting crew rosterproduction of the invention can be effectively used.

Also, new train IDs may be selected which coincide with or lie withinthe allowable range of old train IDs corresponding to each boardingsection data of old itinerary data among new train IDs corresponding tonew rolling stock operation data, by comparing train-lines in: old crewroster diagrams and new rolling stock operation diagrams after readingthose diagrams with an optical reader like OCR as diagrammatic data.

Further, when new itinerary data are produced, though in theaforementioned embodiment, it was determined whether tentative new trainIDs corresponding to each boarding section data of new itinerary datacoincide with new train IDs corresponding to new rolling stock operationdata, it may be also determined that the tentative new train IDscoincide with new train IDs of new train data, irrespective of newrolling stock operation data.

USABILITY FOR INDUSTRIES

As mentioned above, the machine for assisting crew itinerary productionof the invention is suitable for exactly determining how to operatecrews who are to be on duty on traffic and transport companies likerailway, bus, airline and transport companies.

What is claimed is:
 1. A machine for assisting crew itinerary productionwhich assists newly producing itinerary data for an itinerary which acrew follows from the departure at a train district to which the crewbelongs to the arrival at the original train district, by combiningplurality of boarding section data which indicate that when the crewboards on the train of what train-line at what station and when the crewgets off the train at what station afterward, wherein there are providedan old itinerary data storing means for storing old itinerary data, anew train-line storing means for storing plurality of new train-lines, anew itinerary data storing means in the middle of production for storingnew itinerary data in the middle of production, and a train-lineallotting means which selects a new train-line which coincides with orlies within the allowable range of an old train-line corresponding toeach boarding section data of said old itinerary data among saidmultiple new train lines, allots said selected new train-line in placeof the old train-line corresponding to the boarding section data, andstores said selected new train-line in said new itinerary data storingmeans in the middle of production.
 2. A machine for assisting crewitinerary production which assists newly producing itinerary data for anitinerary which a crew follows from the departure at a train district towhich the crew belongs to the arrival at the original train district, bycombining plurality of boarding section data which indicate that whenthe crew boards on the train of what train-line at what station and whenthe crew gets off the train at what station afterward, wherein there areprovided an old itinerary data storing means for storing old itinerarydata, a new train-line storing means for storing plurality of newtrain-lines, a new rolling stock operation data storing means whichstores new rolling stock operation data that determine how to operatecertain rolling stocks corresponding to said new train-line, a newitinerary data storing means in the middle of production for storing newitinerary data in the middle of production, and a train-line allottingmeans which selects a new train-line which coincides with or lies withinthe allowable range of an old train line corresponding to each boardingsection data of said old itinerary data among said new train-linecorresponding to said new rolling stock operation data, allots saidselected new train-line in place of the old train-line corresponding tothe boarding section data, and stores said new train-line in said newitinerary data storing means in the middle of production as the newitinerary data in the middle of production.
 3. The machine for assistingcrew itinerary production according to claim 2, wherein said train-lineallotting means selects a new train-line which coincides with or lieswithin the allowable range of an old train-line corresponding to eachboarding section data of said old itinerary data among said newtrain-lines corresponding to said new rolling stock operation data, byperforming a pattern-matching of train-lines in the new rolling stockoperation diagram on which all of said rolling stock operation data areshown as a diagram with train-lines in the old crew roster diagram onwhich all of said old itinerary data are shown as a diagram.
 4. Themachine for assisting crew itinerary production according to claim 2,wherein there is provided a classifying means which classifies newtrain-lines which have not been allotted by said train-line allottingmeans among new train-lines corresponding to said new rolling stockoperation data into an unallotted group.
 5. The machine for assistingcrew itinerary production according to claim 1, wherein said allowablerange is a range where a departure station and an arrival station in anew itinerary coincide with or overlap the boarding section of acorresponding old itinerary, and the departure time at the departurestation or the arrival time at the arrival station are within apredetermined allowable range of time.
 6. The machine for assisting crewitinerary production according to claim 1, wherein a train ID given toeach train-line is used in plane of said train-line.
 7. The machine forassisting crew itinerary production according to claim 1, wherein saidtrain-line allotting means selects a new train-line closest to its oldtrain-line, when multiple new train-lines exist which lie within theallowable range of the old train-line corresponding to each boardingsection data of said old itinerary data.
 8. The machine for assistingcrew itinerary production according to claim 1, wherein said train-lineallotting means allots a new train-line after confirming that thedeparture time of the latter train at the departure station does notbecome earlier than the arrival time of the former train at the arrivalstation, for two time-sequentially arranged boarding section data.